A: First and foremost, you need to make sure you’re constantly talking to other entrepreneurs and exchanging information on the latest tools and techniques they have been trying out. Being in “the flow” is important and you will always learn the most from folks that are in the trenches. Also, eating healthy, exercising and turning your phone off once in a while are all important ways to keep productivity high.

I tell all my students that before you do anything else, you need to get “orchestral” on your startup. This step precedes tooling-up. What I mean by this is that before you do anything else, map-out the many layers of your company in the most organized way possible.

Whether you use Osterwalder’s canvas for the customer-development phase or a variation of something more homemade like I do using MindNode, I recommend actually printing out the map and putting it on the wall in front of your desk. This way you have a constantly evolving visual rendering of the entire landscape of your startup that you can glance up at throughout the day. It has a way of keeping you mindful of the big picture so you don’t get lost in the weeds.

Now that you’ve gotten “orchestral,” what online tools are you going to deploy on a shoestring budget to keep yourself as efficient as possible? The important thing to remember is that any tool you use should work for you. If you’re not comfortable with it, find another one. There’s an abundance of great tools for us to try these days and that’s one of the reasons we’re so lucky to be entrepreneurs in the twenty-first century.

Here’s a list of low- or no-cost tools that are, in my opinion, indispensable for young entrepreneurs to stay on track.

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